What’s Your Emergency Plan?

It’s essential for all homeowners to plan for various types of emergencies. You and your family should discuss emergency plans for fires, floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. That way when disaster strikes, you are prepared to deal with it quickly.

There are a couple of different ways you can prepare for emergencies, namely getting things together to evacuate your home quickly, and putting systems in place to keep your home safe in the event of an emergency. We’ll discuss both briefly in this article.

Preparing to Evacuate

Some natural disasters require evacuation. It’s as simple as that. Obviously, we’d all rather stay put in times of emergency, but for large weather events like hurricanes or flooding, it may not be feasible to stay put. You could be putting yourself at serious risk if you choose not to follow evacuation orders from the state, local, or federal government.

Many people put together what’s called a “bug-out bag” with various essentials ready to go in the event of an emergency. These bags should include:

Some amount of cash

Flashlight or glow sticks

A change of clothes

A space blanket

Bottles of water

A phone charger (battery powered if possible)

A knife

A list of important phone numbers in case your phone dies

First Aid Kit

A lighter

Sleeping bag

Copies of Medical records and birth certificates for everyone in the family

Map of your area

You may want to add or remove various items from the kit, but this is a basic list that should function for most evacuation situations. Generally, it is expected that you will be able to get to shelter fairly quickly. If it seems that you will not be able to get to shelter quickly you may want to bring additional supplies, especially food.

Luckily, this kind of emergency is rare. For most emergencies, you’ll be able to stay in the comfort of your home, but you might want to take some extra precautions.

Readying Your Home for an Emergency

There are many different things you can do ready your home for a natural disaster. Preparedness, in part, comes down to research, so it’s a good idea to find out how often your area experiences natural disasters to determine how much you need to prepare.

Here are some ways you can prep your home for a disaster:

Install a Whole House Generator: This one seems obvious, but many people don’t think to have a generator put in until after an emergency. Call your local generator installation company, like H.O. Feild Electric Co, and see what deals they’re offering on whole house generators. These will automatically turn on in the event of a power outage and keep your family safe and comfortable until the power comes back.

Keep Sandbags On Hand: Sandbags are a cheap and effective way to keep flooding at bay. Keep enough sandbags around to be able to firmly cover the bottoms of any doors that are at ground level and susceptible to flooding. This will help to keep floodwaters at bay in many situations.

Keep a Stock of Non-Perishables: Keeping your pantry stocked with enough canned goods to make it through an emergency is always a good idea. If your power goes out and you don’t have a generator, you want to make sure you have enough food to keep you and your family fed for at least several days. If you can find non-perishable food that doesn’t require cooking that’s always a plus, though a small camp stove can be useful for heating up canned soups and similar food items.

Keep Flashlights and Extra Batteries Around: Always have a stash of emergency supplies that includes battery powered flashlights and lanterns.

Make Window Covers: If you have plenty of storage space and live in an area that’s prone to high winds, you can easily create window covers out of 2x4s and particle board that you can cut to fit in your window spaces. Then you can pop them in whenever a hurricane or high winds are forecasted to protect your windows through the storm.

There are a multitude of things you can do to prepare your house for various weather emergencies or other disasters. Some of your preparation will depend on where you live and what kind of natural disasters are common in your area. Obviously, preparation for a hurricane is totally different than prep for a tornado. So take the time to research what you need to be prepared for in your area, and make the necessary arrangements to make sure your family and your home stay safe during emergencies and disasters.